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Ratmansky's Corsaire certainly gives the lie to that myth, bursting on the Coliseum stage in glorious technicolour. It takes a lot to make the Coliseum stage seem crowded and a lot is what we got - in numbers of dancers and in length. A perennial mid-Victorian favourite, Le Corsaire has faded into a party piece for galas in recent years and, given some of the more recent full length versions, it is not difficult to see why. An unchallenging plot and stage exoticism often do not provide enough substance for a three and a half hour evening.

This is the exception. ABT made their full length Corsaire palatable by being as camp as possible without sending up the dancing. To an extent, this is why the Bolshoi's Pharaoh's Daughter worked so well. This takes itself a little more seriously, with a nod to the Sick Man of Europe and the all too familiar political and ethnic tensions in Turkey, Armenia and Greece and is not afraid to display the strength and sexuality of the women. The set tends towards realism, with imposing scale and gorgeous painting in the cloths. Minarets and domes shiver out of pearly skies and the rocky caves and coasts and night evoke many a midnight beach scene. Only the shipwreck seemed stagey with the first truck having a very sticky journey from wing to wing. Never work with children, animals, mechanical swans or stage boats. Costumes were sumptuous, although the anacronism of the tutus in this and Bayadère always grates.

Actually, children there were, in keeping perhaps with Victorian tradition but no real enhancement to a long evening. Why is it that only New York City Ballet give children something to do other than skipping in circles and being generally twee? One would assume that if they have amassed sufficient stagecraft not to wave at aunty in the front row, they could do a bit more than they usually manage. In keeping with throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, the full Jardin Animé was produced and was enchanting, marred only by the lack of space. It serves as a reminder of the roots (no pun intended) of the Waltz of the Flowers, the Rose Adagio and even the cygnets in Swan Lake, pre-dating them by almost twenty years. It is surprising that it has not become a self-contained gala work or even a stand alone piece on a mixed bill.
 

The dancing was faultless. If it perhaps lacks the breathtaking fireworks of some past Bolshoi dancers, the precision of the technique and subtlety of approach, even in a clunky piece of Victoriana was well worth watching. This is a real ensemble Company, with a uniformity of training and presentation that is becoming rare in the internationalised ballet world. Andre Merkuriev's feline lissomeness, soft landings and use of plié were at times astonishing. Both he and Sergei Filin as Conrad knock off controlled turns with apparent nonchalance and perfect placing. The women are no slouches either. Svetlana Lunkina as Medora and Ekaterina Krysanova gave as good as they got and found a way around the inherent hamminess of the plot to we witty, charming and lethal as required. The plots may leave something to be desired, but one should never underestimate Perrot and Petipa. There were a few children in the audience, late night notwithstanding: one hopes that they do not try practising their foutées at home with a knife in each hand. Otherwise there was much to learn from the focus and commitment of everyone on the stage.

The orchestra, conducted again this season by Pavel Klinichev, were is fine form and it was good that soloists were credited in the cast list.

Thanks to the Stepanov notation, Ratmansky has found a way of both preserving and updating the Company's heritage without being stuck exclusively with the Grigorovich classics, without lurching into the shock of the new for its own sake and without merging into the global ballet world with the danger of it's "Starbuck's" repertoire of Swan Lake for the grey haired and Forsythe for everyone else.

This Corsaire is too much of a marathon for me to feel that I could see it often, but it should not be missed and has got the London season off to a fine start.